The present invention relates to a slot machine which is adapted to display symbols on a plurality of lengthwise movable rows of symbols, with at least one complete symbol appearing in each symbol row, in a way to shift the complete symbols that are transversely adjacent to each other lengthwise a predetermined regular distance.
As is well known in the art, slot machines of the type which use either mechanical rotatable reels or a simulated video display of rotating reels on a CRT screen (hereinafter generically referred to as "reels") have a plurality of lengthwise movable series of various symbols arranged at a regular spacing on the reels. During a game, each reel is caused to rotate, and is stopped at one of its possible stop positions in each of which it displays corresponding symbols to a player through a window. When all the reels stop, a win decision is made based on the combinations of symbols stopping on the winning line or lines and, if there is a win, as many coins as the number corresponding to the kind of that win are paid out.
The above-described slot machine having, for example, three reels arranged side by side displays in its reel windows nine symbols, three for each reel, aligned in three transverse rows. Therefore, it is possible to display at most five possible prize-winning combinations of symbols, namely three transverse and two diagonal combinations of symbols.
In the above-described conventional slot machines, when each reel stops at one of the possible stop positions, the slot machine displays the same number of symbols on each reel at the same regular spacing. As a result, the conventional slot machines have no variety of prize-winning lines and cannot give players a special interest in playing games.